The present invention is directed to a brick fastening device and method suitable for use in building construction such as, for example, forming a brick wall or brick pavement.
In typical brick construction, bricks are fastened together by a layer of mortar placed between adjacent bricks as the bricks are "laid" to form a brick structure. Although the resulting structure is strong, durable and attractive, the skill required in mixing the mortar and spacing and aligning the bricks makes such construction expensive and limits its use. Furthermore, this brick construction is slow due to the complexity of the spacing and aligning procedures and the necessity of laying a brick wall in sections. Sagging will occur if the mortar has not hardened sufficiently to support the weight of the overlying bricks.
Various types of alignment and spacing devices have been proposed to improve or simplify brick and mortar construction. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,281 shows an alignment dowel for use with particularly configured cement blocks. U.S. Pat. Nos. 860,927 and 3,641,731 show spacing lugs and ribs, respectively. However, with each of these proposed devices, mortar is still required for fastening the bricks or cement blocks together; the proposed devices are to be used solely for alignment or spacing.
In contrast to the brick wall constructions just described, children's toy building blocks have been devised which utilize special dowels or pegs for fastening together small wood or plastic blocks as well as for aligning adjacent blocks. Such toy building block construction, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,258,156 and 228,052, does not require mortar, but such construction is not suitable for fastening together ceramic bricks or concrete blocks to form a full-scale wall or the like.
Moreover, conventional brick and mortar construction does not facilitate drainage or ventilation through a brick wall or pavement as is desirable in some applications. Because the mortar must flow around the perimeter of each brick, drainage or ventilation is usually achievable by the use of specially configured bricks having openings within their perimeters. Such bricks are expensive and may be too weak for some applications.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a brick fastening device which can be used to fasten together bricks, either with or without mortar, to form a structure.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a brick fastening device which provides alignment and spacing of adjacent bricks while providing fastening of the bricks to each other.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a convenient and economical method of fastening bricks together to form a structure which is immediately rigid.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an economical method for forming a brick structure in which spaces may be left between bricks to permit drainage or ventilation.